The dictionary of genetic effects and the language of morphology

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

The success of genome-sequencing projects highlights how little we know about how the whole organism is put together. Deciphering the relationship between the genome and the organism requires study of the effects of subtle genetic changes on the whole organism. This project will develop and apply one such approach by manipulating the expression of hundreds of genes and observing the effects on body shape, then using modeling to test understanding of how these effects occur. The project will focus on the genetic basis of shape of the wing of fruit flies, one of the few multi-cellular organisms where the necessary genetic manipulations are easy to accomplish and detailed data can be obtained in large quantities. This project has broad significance for biology, because health and disease in humans, improvement of domesticated plants and animals, and the ability of organisms to adapt, all derive from the relationship between the genome and the organism. This project will provide more detailed data on the genetic basis of variation in the whole organism than has previously been available. The research will provide a procedural model and analytical software which can be used by others to extend such studies to other organisms and that ultimately is applicable to humans and the species we interact with. Many undergraduates and a post-doctoral research will receive training through participation in this project.